/*
 * Copyright 2010 Assert Developments
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 * 	http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

package com.google.inject.factory;

import com.google.inject.binder.ClassBinder;

/**
 * A factory that creates instances of classes, identified by an identifier.
 *
 * @author Stefan Bangels
 */
public interface Factory<T> {

    /**
     * Create an instance of the class mapped to the specified identifier.
     *
     * @param identifier the identifier
     * @return an instance of the class mapped to the specified identifier
     */
    T create(String identifier);

    /**
     * Create a class binder that maps a class to the specified identifier.
     *
     * @param identifier the identifier
     * @return a class binder, that maps a class to the specified identifier
     * @see com.google.inject.binder.ClassBinder
     */
    ClassBinder<T> map(String identifier);

}
